Circular knitting machine



April 14, 1959 5-; B1| I 2,881,604 CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE I F1106Sept. 28, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2.

1 INVENTORI GIORGIO. BILL! I BY W4 April 14, 1959 G. BILLICIRCULARKNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 28, 1955 mu m 2 N B M m w w k Q w MG e w 5 m N l A rt- MR WW n w m N 1W w b \b m. w O n April 14, 1959" G.BiLLl 2,881,604

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 28, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 5 FIG.7'

ATTYS.

April 14, 1959 G. BlLL l ciRcuLAR KNITTING MACHINE INVENTORZ GIORGIOBILLI ATTYS.

5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 28, 1955 April 14, 1959 G. BlLLI CIRCULARKNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 28, 1955- 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 :utrm 2 24mINVENTOR GIORGIO BILLI SWVD MDVP BY WW ATTYS.

United States Patent 2,881,604 CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Fucecchio(Florence), Italy, assignor to Giorgio Billi,

Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a

Fidelity Machine Company, corporation of Pennsylvania This inventionrelates primarily to circular hosiery machines and more particularly tocertain improvements in mechanisms of the character disclosed in myco-pending United States application, Serial Number 440,492., filed June30, 1954, now Patent No. 2,810,277.

The invention disclosed in the aforesaid application has to do with amodification of the conventional plain knit stocking fabric by aselective use of tuck stitches to confer certain desirable properties ofa functional nature or of appearance, or both, and a principal object ofthe present invention is to provide a generally simplified, compact andfunctionally improved mechanism for obtaining those desired results.

A more specific object is to provide a simplified and more flexiblecontrol of the needleand jack-lifting cams by means of which the tuckstitches are produced.

Another object is to provide an improved guide system for the jacks.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

In the attached drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a circular knittingmachine, comprising needleand jack-actuating devices in accordance wlththe present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view, partly in section, of themachine from the right-hand side of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan view, partly in section,showing in greater detail the mechanism of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5, Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 66, Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on the line 7-7, Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged diagrammatic layout view of the needle cylindershowing the needleand jack-elevating cams with which the presentinvention is more immediately concerned and showing also the improvedmeans for guiding the jacks, and

Fig. 9 is a development of the rotary cam bank of the invention showingone relative arrangement of the several cams.

With reference to the drawings, the knitting machine therein illustratedis of automatic type adapted for production of womens hosiery. The camring 1 of the machine is stationary in the present instance and isrigidly secured to the top frame 2 of the machine. The needle cylinder 3is of the rotary type and moves about a vertical axis within the camring 1. The sinker ring mechanism is illustrated generally at 4. In thepresent instance also, the machine comprises a dial 5 containinginstrumentalities cooperative in known manner with the knitting needlesin the cylinder 3. Like the cylinder 3, the dial 5 is of rotary type andmoves about the same axis as and in synchronism with the said cylinder.

The cylinder 3 has at its lower end a bevel gear 6, through which thecylinder is actuated by conventional mechanism forming no part of thepresent invention. Above the bevel gear 6 and attached thereto is a spur"ice gear 7. Meshing with the gear 7 is a spur pinion 8, this pinionbeing carried at the lower end of a vertical shaft 9. To the upper endof this shaft is attached a bevel pinion 11 which, through a bevel gear12, horizontal shaft 13, bevel pinion 14, bevel gear 15, and dependingshaft 16, is operatively connected to and actuates the dial 5. Inasfaras described, the mechanism of the machine may be considered essentiallyconventional.

In accordance with the present invention, the shaft 9 is provided with aworm 21, and this worm meshes with a worm wheel 22 attached to one endof a horizontal shaft 23. This shaft carries at its other end a bevelpinion 24. The pinion 24 meshes with a bevel gear 25 and this gear isattached to the upper end of a sleeve 26 which is journalled forrotation on a pin 27 secured on a bracket 17 attached to the top frame 2of the machine. Keyed to the sleeve 26 is a bushing 20 on which aremounted cams 28, 29, 31, 32 and 33 of a vertical unitary bank. As shownin Fig. 4, these cams are in the form of generally circular discs andhave peripheral lobes and recesses hereinafter described in detail.

This unitary bank of cams, being in effect splined to the sleeve 26, isadjustable axially of the latter and is normally held in a relativelydepressed position, as shown in Fig. 7, by a spring 34 which is confinedbetween the underside of the bevel gear 25 and the upper surface of thecam unit. In this depressed position, the said unit seats upon theannular hub portion 35 of a lever 36, the said hub seating upon thebracket 17 and embracing the lower end 37 of the sleeve 26. Thus, thehub 35 and lever 36 are adjustable about the axis of the rotary cam bankunit. As illustrated in Fig. 7, the bracket 17 is provided with aplurality of apertures 39 for reception in their upper ends of bosses 41which project downwardly from the underside of the hub 35. When, asshown in Fig. 7, these bosses occupy the upper ends of the apertures 39,the hub 35 is in relatively depressed position; but when the lever 36 ismoved through an angle sufficient to displace the bosses 41 from theapertures 39, the hub 35 will be elevated and will shift the cam unitupwardly in axial direction to an extent corresponding to the effectiveheight of the bosses. The lever 36 may be operated from a pattern drum76, hereinafter referred to, as shown in Fig. 2.

Secured to and extending upwardly from the bracket 17 in parallelalignment with the axis of the cam bank unit described above, is apintle 42. This pintle forms a pivotal mounting for a plurality oflevers corresponding in number to the cams of the bank 30 and relativelyspaced on the pintle in conformity with the spacing of the said cams sothat the levers, numbered 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47 respectively in thedrawings, are in alignment with the cams 28 to 33 respectively. As shownin Fig. 4, one end of each of these levers is normally confined betweenthe peripheral edge of its associated rotary cam and a slide cam member,the latter being identified by the reference numerals 48, 49, 51, 52 and53 respectively. These slide members, in superimposed relatively spacedseries as shown in Fig. 5, are guided for longtiudinal reciprocatorymovement in a pair of secondary brackets 54 and 55 secured to andextending upwardly from the bracket 17. Springs 56 and 57, a pair ofwhich is attached to the slides in the manner illustrated in Fig. 4,exert resilient pressure tending to hold the slides in a relativelyretracted position in which they engage the proximate ends of the levers43 to 47 respectively to hold the ends of these levers in operativeengagement with the peripheries of the respective rotary cams.

The relationship of the slide cam 48 to the knitting needles, in thecylinder 3 and of the slide earns 49, 51, 52 and 53 to the jacks, isillustrated in Fig. 8. In the present instance it is to be assumed thatthe knitting needles in each of.

180 of cylinder circumference are provided with long butts. These longbutt needles are indicated collectively in the drawings by the referencenumeral 81, and the long butts are shown at82. The needlesv 83 in theother 180 of cyclinder circumference are provided with short butts 82a.When the cam 48 is in the advanced position, the needles 81 are causedto travel in an upper track indicated by the reference numeral 84wherein, subject to the actionof the conventional stitch cams 80, 85 and86, they operate to form the conventional plain stitch. In this fullyadvanced-position, the cam 48 acts only on the long butts 82 to elevatethe needles 81 to the upper track 84 from which, as illustrated in Fig.8, the needles are further elevated by the cam 86 to the extentnecessary to drop the previously formedloop when the needle issubsequently moved downwardly by the cam 85. When the cam 48 is. fullyretracted the needles 81 and 83 travel in lower track 87, and subject tothe action of the cam 88, will either produce tuck stitches, if the cam88 is in the advanced position shown in Fig. 8, or will produce floatsif the cam 88 is retracted in manner well known in the art; When the cam48' is in the advanced position, the short-butt needles 83 are elevatedby jacks, as hereinafter described, to the extent required for formationof the plain stitchfabric.

The needle-elevating jacks are indicated generally by the referencenumeral 91. As shown in Fig. 8 each of the jacks comprises upper andlower butts, 92 and 93 respectively, and an intermediate butt 94. Thebutts 92 and 93 are adapted for guiding engagement respectively with theupper and lower edges 95 and 96 of a cam track 97, as shown. The butts94 are adapted for operative engagement with the cams 49, 51, 52 and 53to elevate the jacks as hereinafter described. In the present instancethe jacks in 180 of cylinder circumference are in repetitive groups offour, the jacks in each group corresponding to those shown to the leftinFig. 8. The leading jack-of each of these groups in respect to thedirection of full cylinder rotationhas its intermediate butt 94 arrangedfor cooperative engagement with the cam 53, so that whenthat cam isfully advancedof inserted in the cylinder it will act to elevate thejack and the overlying knitting needle. The intermediate butt 94 of thenext adjoining jack of the group is arranged for similar cooperativeengagement with the cam 51; and the intermediate butts 94 of the twosucceeding jacks are arranged for engagement with the cams 52 and 49respectively. In this 180 of cylinder circumference the intermediatebutts are all short butts.

The jacks in the other 180 of cylinder circumference are also inrepetitive groups of four of which one group is shown to the right inFig. 8. In this case the intermediate butts are long as compared withthe short butts of the jacks of the other half of the circle, and ineach group-the intermediate'butts are arranged as in the respectivegroupsof the other half of the circle for functional engagement with thecams 53, 51, 52 and 49 respectively. It will be noted that jacks havinglong butts 94 underlie theneedles 83 with short butts, and vice versa.

The cams 49, 51, 52 and 53 when in a fully advanced position will engageboth the short butts 94 of the jacks in the one half of the circle andthe long'intermediate butts of the jacks in the other half of the circleto elevate all of the jacks into the needle-elevating position. When thesaid cams are in an intermediate state of advance ment, they will act toelevate only the jacks in that half of the needle circle wherein thejacks are provided with the long intermediate butts. When the cams arefully retracted,- the jacks, guided in the track 95-96, will followacourse, insofar as these cams are concerned,

wherein they are inoperative to elevate the knitting needles.

The formand relative arrangement of the cams 28, 29,31, 32 and 33inclusive of the bank 30, and theggeneral mode-of operation of thesecams is illustrated in Fig. 9 of the drawings. In the present instance,the rotary cam bank is geared'for one complete revolution to each eightrevolutions of the needle cylinder. The cam 28, as illustrated, isprovided with four equally spaced lobes 101, and these lobes as well asthe intervening recesses 102 of the cam are of equal circumferentialextent. The cam 28 will, therefore, act to advance the cam 48 intoneedle-actuating position in each alternate revolution of the cylinder.In the other revolutions of the cylinder the cam 48 will be retracted.In those courses of the knitted fabric wherein the cam 48 is advancedand thereforeoperative with respect to the knitting needles 81, thejacks will operate, as described below, to also elevate the needles83a'nd' the entire course will be composed of plain stitches; but inthose courses of the knitted fabric produced while the cam 48 isretracted, the needles 81 and 83 will be conditioned for the productionof tuck stitches or floats, as described above, subject to control bythe jacks-91.

The functional form of the jack earns 29, 31, 32 and 33- is alsoillustrated in Fig. 9. In the present instance, each of these cams'has asingle peripheral recess, and since the cams are identical except forthe relative positions of the saidrecesses in the 360 of cylindercircumference, the

' recesses will beidentified by the same reference numeral 103. As.illustrated, the said recess drops away at each side to an intermediatelevel designated by the reference numeral 104 and then to a centrallower level 105. When the top level 106 of the cam ie the outermostperipheral edge, is presented to the associated lever, 44, 45, 46 or 47as the case may be, the rotary carn operates to move the relatedslide'cam, 49, 51, 52 or 53, to the fully advanced position. Aspreviously set forth when in this position, the latter cams will operateto elevate both the short and long butt jacks. When the actuating levers44 and 47 engage the intermediatelevels 104 of the associated rotarycams, the jack-actuating cams are advanced to an extent such that theyactuate only the long butt jacks. When the levers 44 to 47 engage thebottoms of the respective cam recesses 105, the cams 49, 51, 52 and 53are fully retracted and are inoperative to elevate either the long orshort butt jacks.

With the form and relative arrangement of cams illustrated in Fig 9, theneedle-actuating cam 48 will be retracte'd in every other course. Inthose courses, therefore, the needles will be conditioned for tuckstitch formation as described above. In each of four successive suchcourses, one of the jack earns 49, 51, 52 and 53 will act to elevatethree of the needles of each successive group of four so that a tuckstitch will be formed in every fourth wale; the stitches of theintervening wales being plain stitches. It will be understood that thejack cams operate in' succession and exert a control on the needles inevery second course respectively and that at the end of each cycle ofeight courses the operation is repeated. Thus, throughout the fabric,every second course will have a tuck stitch in every fourth wale; andsince-the cams 29, 31, 32 and 33 are angularly offset with respect toeach other as shown, the tuck stitch in the successive courses will becorrespondingly' displaced weftwise with respect to each other to theextent in the present instance of one wale. A predetermined uniformpattern or tuck stitches is thus produced; and this patternv may bechanged as desired by relative rearrangement of'the rotary cams 28, 29,31, 32 and 33 or by substitution of cams of difierent peripheralcontours.

When the rotary cam bank 30 is in the normal depressed position as shownin Fig. 7 the cams of the bank are in. alignment respectively with theseveral levers 43 to 47,, as previously described, and when the cam bank30 is elevated through the medium of the lever 36, the rotary cams aremoved to a misaligned and inoperative position with respect to the saidlevers. In order to clear the levers 43 to 47' from the cam bank duringaxial adjustment of the latter, and for other reasons hereinafterexplained, the outer ends of the levers are engaged by a pair ofplungers 61 and 62 which are mounted for longitudinal reciprocatorymovement in suitable guides formed in a bracket 63 mounted on the fixedframe of the machine. The plunger 61 engages the proximate ends of thetwo levers 46 and 47. The plunger 62 similarly engages the proximateends of the two levers 44 and 45, and this plunger also carries an arm64 in which is mounted an adjustable pin 65 for engagement with theproximate end of the lever 43. As shown in Fig. 6, the pin 65 isnormally retracted from the lever 43 while the plungers 61 and 62 are incontact with the other levers, so that there is in eifect a lost motionbetween the said pin and lever. The purpose of this lost motion will behereinafter described.

The plungers 61 and 62 are normally held in a relatively retractedposition by springs 66 and 67 respectively, which retain the rear endsof the said plungers in contact with the proximate ends of a pair oflevers 68 and 69 mounted for oscillation about a vertical axis on apintle 71. The opposite ends of these levers are connected in thepresent instance through connecting rods 72 and 73 with a pair ofpivoted dogs 74 and 75 which are operatively associated with a patterndrum 76. Elevation of these dogs by the pattern drum will cause acounterclockwise movement of the levers 68 and 69, and projection of theplungers 61 and 62 with resultant retraction of the levers 44, 45, 46and 47 from the peripheries of flre associated rotary cams 29, and 31 to33 inclusive, and a delayed retraction also of the lever 43 from theperiphery of the cam 28 if the movement of the lever 69 is suflicient tobring the pin 65 into contact with the lever 43. It will be apparentthat the aforedescribed mechanism provides for actuation, independentlyof the rotary cams of the bank 30, of the cam elements 48, 49, 51, 52and 53 inclusive; and also actuation of the cams 48, 49, and 51independently of the cam elements 52 and 53.

Since the needle cam 48 operates only on the long butt needles, aspreviously described, and the plunger 62 operates both on the cam 48 andthe jack cams 49 and 51 I which are required to operate on both long andshort butt motion between the plunger 62 and lever 43 provides for therequired diflerential movements between the cams. Thus, the position ofthe plunger 62 which corresponds to the fully advanced position of thejack earns 49 and 51, will at the same time correspond to the positionof advancement of cam 48 required to engage that cam with the long buttneedles. It will be apparent therefore that by a partial retraction ofthe plunger 62, the cam 48 may be permitted to move to its inoperativeposition while the jack cams, still under control of the rotary cams,will be permitted to actuate the long butt jacks only, so that the tuckstitch formation will be confined to 180 of the needle circle, the other180 of the circular fabric being of plain stitch formation.

I claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine, a rotary needle cylinder, needles insaid cylinder, cam means responsive to the rotary movement of thecylinder for actuating said needles, said cam means including a cammounted for insertion into operative engagement with the needles toelevate the latter and retractable from said engagement, spring meanstending to retain the said cam in retracted position, jacks in saidcylinder for elevating the needles independently of said cam, aplurality of jack-elevating cams mounted for insertion into operativeengagement with the jacks to elevate the latter and retractable fromsaid engagement, spring means tending to retain the last-named cams inretracted positions, a plurality of rotary cam elements mounted forrotation as a unit about a common axis and having operative connectionrespectively with the said needleand jack-elevating cams to advance thesaid cams to inserted positions, and mechanism for rotating said camelements in timed relation with the cylinder.

2. A knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein jacks, the lost thesaid axis of the rotary cams parallels the axis of the cylinder and liesin proximity to the latter.

3. A knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein the rotary cams aremounted for adjustment as a unit in axial direction to and fromoperative position with respect to the said needleand jack-elevatingcams, and wherein means is provided for so axially adjusting the rotarycams.

4. A knitting machine according to claim 3 including devicessynchronized with the rotary movement of the cylinder for operating thesaid cam adjusting means to adjust the rotary cams to and from saidoperating positions.

5. A knitting machine according to claim 3 including means forneutralizing the action of the said spring means during the axialadjustments of the rotary cam unit.

6. A knitting machine according to claim 1 including means for advancingthe needleand jack-elevating cams independently of the rotary cams.

7. A knitting machine according to claim 6 including means synchronizedwith the cylinder rotation for actuating said advancing means.

8. A knitting machine according to claim 6 wherein said advancing meansincludes a motion transmitting element common to both theneedle-elevating and jackelevating cams.

9. A knitting machine according to claim 8 wherein the said transmittingelement comprises lost motion means for delayed advance of theneedle-elevating cam relative to the advance of the jack-elevating cams.

10. A knitting machine according to claim 1 including means whereby eachof the jack-elevating cams has operative engagement exclusively with apart only of the total number of jacks, and wherein the said camscollectively have operative engagement with all of said jacks.

11. A knitting machine according to claim 10 wherein each of thejack-elevating cams has operative connection with one only of the rotarycams.

12. In a circular knitting machine, a rotary needle cylinder, needles insaid cylinder, stitch cams responsive to the rotary movement of thecylinder for actuating said needles selectively at two defierent levels,a needle cam apart from said stitch cams mounted for insertion intooperative engagement with certain of the needles to direct those needlesto the stitch cams at one of said levels and retractable from saidengagement to afford freedom for movement for all of the needles to thestitch cams at the other of said levels, spring means tending to retainthe said cam in retracted position, needle jacks in said cylinder, aplurality of jack cams mounted for insertion into operative engagementwith the jacks to actuate the latter to direct all of the needles to thestitch cams at the said one level independently of said needle cam,spring means tending to retain the jack cams in retracted position, aplurality of rotary cam elements mounted for rotation as a unit about acommon axis and having operative connection respectively with saidneedle and jack cams for periodically advancing the said needle and jackcams to inserted positions and to release the cams for retraction by thesaid spring means, said cams being relatively formed so that when theneedle cam is inserted the jack cams will actuate the jacks selectivelyto direct those of the needles not affected by the needle cam to thestitch cams at the said one level, and when the needle cam is retractedthe jack cams will actuate the jacks selectively to direct only selectedones of the needles to the stitch cams at said one level Whilepermitting the remaining needles to move to the stitch cams at the saidother level.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,933,281 Robinson Oct. 31, 1933 2,126,646 Lawson et al Aug. 9, 19382,199,637 Lawson May 7, 1940 2,255,693 Jones Sept. 9, 1941

